Beyond Dust
by ETremor
Summary: A warrior travels across a war torn world set in a medieval land full of magic, monsters and mystery. During his travels he will meet and surpass challenges on his way to accomplishing his true goals. What will it take for him to discover the secrets of long forgotten wars and the struggles of long dead heroes? This is his story. This is what's Beyond Dust.
1. Chapter 1

Beyond Dust

CH 1

The yellow glow cast by the wizards lamp was barely visible after the heavy rain. There was no way to be quiet tramping through the forest when the mud clinging to his boots made them more than twice as heavy. He finally came upon the road he had been searching for and quickly left the forest. Had he been a ranger or been well accustomed to forests he'd have noticed the dark creature following him. Slowly it crept through the forest along side the road. Stalking it's prey silently and efficiently. Even though he had no idea what it was or where it was, he could feel the gaze of a killer intent on him. He loosened the sword from the sheethe upon his left hip.

Just ahead he could see an inn which meant at any moment his stalker would make a decision. To attack now or wait for a better chance. He had just a few more steps until he reached the door. The force of the gaze upon him was begining to madden him. He was just a few steps away when he stopped. In a rough and deep voice he spoke in a near whisper "Thats enough of this."

The warrior turned around and drew the sword from his hip. He shrugged off his pack. "Come out now!" He held the wizard lamp in his left hand high above his head to cast the light as far as it would go. He sighed lightly, "Well you're a boring one."

He took one careful step after another until his impatience got the best of him. He tossed the wizard's lamp to the side. "Just come out already!" His rage was building quickly and he didn't care for caution anymore.

The wizard's lamp and the light from the inn cast enough light to create a shadowy frame of the warrior. The beast stopped in it's tracks and stared for a moment sizing up it's prey better. Two huge pole-like items crisscrossed his back and stuck above his head. There were also some odd protrustions from his shoulders and arms.

The warrior felt the killing intent gaze slowly leave him. "Fine, run away coward!" In frustration the warrior grabbed his gear and stomped back to the inn. Just at that moment the inn door opened and a few drunk gaurds stumpled out with swords drawn.

"Too late boys. He's gone." The warrior walked past the gaurds and up to the inn keeper. "Room for the night." He took the key offered him and stalked off to his room. Once there he removed his weapons and cloak. Under it was a full plate armor set. The armor was fashioned in a way to bring fear into his enemies hearts and courage into his allies' hearts.

The color was a bold and deep blue. His helm covered his entire face and had blades in place of where his eyebrows and ears would be with short sharpened horns on the forehead. The spaulders were designed in the likeness of a demon's face with horns protruding from the sides that doubled as weapons should he do a shoulder charge. The chestplate had his family emblem of a chimera engraved upon it. His bracers, just like his shoulders, were fashioned after a demon but with fangs protruding rather than horns and could be used as weapons to slash and stab. His belt had tassets which interlocked from the top to down below his groin to ensure there was no weak point. The legplates covered from just above the tassets down to his greaves. His plate boots were also covered in spikes and blades. Near ever part of his armor could be used as a weapon all on its own. It was designed by a true orcish armorsmith.

If he hadn't been used to it and done it hundreds of times there would have been no way for him to remove all of his armor himself. As he removed the armor he revealed long golden red hair with a moderate length goatee and the deep blue eyes that pierced the very soul. He carefully placed all the armor next to his bed but he left his chain mail on and layed down. He kept his weapons next to him as he slowly let himself fall into a restful sleep.

He awoke just before dawn and redonned his gear and weapons. He walked back down stairs and tossed the key to the inn keeper. "Wheres a good place to get food?" He asked

The inn keeper looked at the warrior warrily and with a small amount of fear. His voice shook slightly when he spoke, "We have some fresh bread here, but if you're looking to stock up for a journey take a left out the door and go to the end of this street. You'll find a small market there where you can buy what you need."

"Thanks."

The inn keeper took a deep breath and braved a question, "Who... Who are you?"

The warrior stopped before the doorway and stepped back so that he could turn and face the inn keeper. "You want a name or an explaination? Either way, it doesn't much matter. Just call me Vyoltin. I'm merely a warrior wandering through."

Nodding to himself the inn keeper walked around the counter and up to Vyoltin. "If you're not in too much of a rush, please speak to our town governor. Theres been a problem lately and we have no one capable of handling it."

"Hmm. A problem. I may have an idea already." With that Vyoltin turned and ducked under the door to avoid the hilts from his swords from hitting.

He took a left and walked to the market. He browsed shortly and found what he needed. At the last vendor he stopped and asked for directions to the town governor. He thanked the woman and went to meet the governor. He approached the town hall and walked up the stairs to the governor's office.

Before he reached the door a small portly man stepped in front of him. "I heard you were looking for me. Tell me, are you willing to help us?"

"Yes I am. I was followed last night by someone dangerous, but he ran off before showing himself." Vyoltin looked down at the man. Though the governor looked as if he had never done a hard day's work in his life, he had a surety to him and an intelligence behind his eyes. He'd never be able to lead in war, but when it came to running a town he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Thats better than most can say. Most can't say anything at all afterwards. Seeing as they are dead." The governor's face darkened and his eyes became downcast. "Sorry, that wasn't proffesional of me. This thing has been killing off our people and livestock for a week now. We've lost too many already. I'm not sure if its man or beast. No one has seen it."

"Give me the information you have on it. I'll take care of it." After speaking with the governor and recieving the information he left. From what he learned the beast stayed on the northern side of the village, which is where he had entered from just last night. How long had it been watching him he wondered.

He headed back to the inn to try and rent a room, but the inn keeper gave it to him freely. "Take the room for as long as you need. So long as you are helping this town you'll have a place to stay." Nodding to the inn keeper Vyoltin headed to his room.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Once in his room he unloaded all the supplies he bought and took out a map of the area. "Looks like I'll start at the river and work my way upstream till I find some trace of him. Or it."

After packing a small food pouch Vyoltin walked out to start his search. He followed the map to where he planned to start his search. He arrived at the river, but before he could start he felt the same intense killing gaze sweep across him. Ignoring the swords on his hip Vyoltin drew the two massive swords on his back. A normal man would normally only be able to use one of the swords at once, but Vyoltin was no normal man. He easily lifted a two-handed sword in each of his hands.

His right handed sword was crafted by the elven smith Eyrinla Heavy-Wind. An usual Elven woman. The Elven people are normally content being artists and living off the land. Most of their weapons are made from blending fallen branches with magic into light and finely crafted works of art. Eyrinla, however, found her place as a specialist blacksmith. She used the knowledge of blending nature and magic to blend minerals and magic instead or branches. One may assume that she made her weapons lighter with magic, but she didn't. She infused her weapons with extra weight as well as enchantments to strengthen, enhance reflexes and even increase the speed of the wielder.

In his left hand he used a weapon of traditional dwarven crafting. Though the maker was an unknow blacksmith, the weapon was of very high quality. Dwarven runes covered the hilt and blade. The runes gave the weapon enhancements to the sharpness, durability and even lessoned the weight. Though the blade had been lightened it still made an excellent offensive weapon for quick strikes to throw an enemy off balance. The light weight of the weapon also made it very easy to move into defensive positions to block and parry attacks. It serves as a weapon and shield.

Vyoltin felt the enchantments take effect the second he gripped his right sword. Strength flooded his body and his rage began to rise. "Come out now and fight me. You wait much longer and you wont stand a chance." Vyoltin began scouring the area with his vision. He stared into the forest looking for the smallest hint of movement. The gaze was still upon him. "Where are you!?"

All around there were multitudes of advantageous positions. Many of them ambush zones. Vyoltin had walked into the thing's trap. Quickly he spotted a strong defensive position created by the rubble of a small fort. Right to left. Up and down. Vyoltin scanned the entire area for any signs of his prey.

The tower's walls had collapsed in many areas giving enough room for him to swing his weapons. The basic structure was still mostly intact to prevent any possibility of a sneak attack from behind or the sides. Just one door led into the room he now entered. It looked as though it may have been the soldiers' dining hall. A few rotted chairs and tables were collapsed in the corner. A rat scurried out from under the rotted wood and out of the room.

Though he couldn't feel the gaze directly upon him the killing intent still flooded his senses and it was growing stronger every moment. Vyoltin readied himself and allowed his rage to rise. No matter what walked through the door he was ready. As he stared towards the door he suddenly felt a massive weight upon his back. Before he could react his helmet was wrenched from his head tearing muscles in his neck in the process. And his anger rose.

Knocked off balance and with searing pain burning through his neck he still turned and readied his counter attack. Unable to turn his neck to widen his view range quick enough he wasn't able to bring his sword up to block the next blow. Still he was unable to see what was attacking him. Vyoltin was thrown to the side as the attack landed on the left side of his ribcage. Even with his armor defending against the brunt of the blow he had his wind knocked out. What ever this thing was it was very strong and very fast. His anger rose higher and his rage took hold.

"Too late," Vyoltin said in a barely audible whisper.

The rage flowed freely as Vyoltin allowed it to over power him. Forcing air into his lungs he let out an unbrideled roar of fury. He launched himself to the side to avoid the next attack that was sure to come. Turning, he finally saw the creature. Vyoltin quickly sized up his apponent for weaknesses and strengths. He liked what he saw. No visible weaknesses.

The creature was more beast than man but could stand as upright as one when it wanted. It had fangs and claws as long as daggers. Muscles rippled its frame under fur as black as night. Where it should have had eyes it had holes devoid of any light or even any life. The thing was a summoned demon. A true demon that made Vyoltin's demon armor look like a child's play thing.

Then, it spoke. The voice clawed at the senses and brought spikes of pain into his ears. The unnatrual sound could have made any normal person go mad. "Give me your flesh."

"If you want flesh I'll feed you your own demon!" Vyoltin's rage and anger fully erupted and he used his berserker style to lunge forward. He swung his sword with every ounce of his strength in an over head strike. The arc of the sword cut through the air and down upon the demon.

At the last moment the demon side stepped the sword and let out an evil and haunting laugh. "Too slow mortal." Continuing the side step the demon stepped behind Vyoltin and slashed towards his exposed neck.

"No. You're too slow!" Vyoltin spun on the balls of his feet before planting them firmly. He brought up the dwarven weapon to parry the attack and stabbed with his Elven weapon. In less than the blink of an eye the demon was pierced through the spot where it should have had a heart.

A howl of anger and pain erupted from the demon. "How dare you! You lowly human!" Black fumes poured out of the wound and slowly the area around the wound cracked and crumbled. "You are marked for death," the demon wheezed.

"I've been marked before, but you are banished."

"For... A... Time..." The demon's face curled into a wicked smile, then he crumbled back to dirt and ashes.

Vyoltin looked down into the pile of dirt and ashes. Among the remains he saw the summoning items. A human jaw, decaying animal flesh and some berries he assumed were poisonous. The most basic and lowest of reagents. Had the summoner used more powerful ites the demon would have been a real challenge.

His helmet lay to one side. He picked it up and headed back to the village. After informing the governor he spoke to the town healer. Though not of much use the healer gave Vyoltin some herbs for the pain. His neck would heal, but slowly. He spent the rest of the day and that night resting before he left the next day. Though the people of the town tried to treat him and pay him for what he had done, he refused all gifts.


End file.
